Alan Healy Memorial Stages

A wet and windswept Cadwell Park saw it’s 4th running of the Alan Healy Memorial stages and after a late engine failure in 2014 David & Alice Tinn (Satria Neo) made amends and took victory by a minute and eight seconds. They were fastest on 9 of the 10 stages only dropping off the top of time sheets on the final stage. That was due in no small part to the last stage charge of Andy Fenwick & John Vance (Focus WRC) who snatched 2nd from Michael Glendinning & Paul Hughes (Impreza) after a day long battle.

Rally North Wales

A wet, windy and wild day in the Dyfi complex saw the return of Rally North Wales, aka the Bulldog. There was a dominant victory for David Bogie & Kevin Rae (Fiesta R5+) setting fastest stage time across every stage. With the battle for 2nd almost two minutes further back Luke Francis & John Roberts (Evo IX) set a great final stage time to finish just two seconds ahead of Osian Pryce & Dale Furniss (DS3 R3 Max). Top 2WD crew and first Historic crew home were Nick Elliott & Dave Price (Escort MkII) just two seconds ahead of Ieuan Rowlands & Emyr Hall (Escort MkII).

AGBO Stages

A crisp start and a glorious day at Weston Park saw a superb day of rallying unfold in front of us. The top trio was an all Escort MkII affair in the end with 2014 winners Oliver & Ben Davies setting fastest time on the opening two stages from Paul Evans & Ashley Trimble, just 3 seconds behind after 2 stages. Roger Moran & Joy Hoyle were up to 3rd after the 2nd stage, by just a single second from Neil Weaver & James Bailey (Darrian T9 GTR). Davies was then fastest and joint fastest on the next pair of stages before the fastest times dried up. The remaining 6 stages were shared between Moran (4) and Evans (2) but Davies kept in the top 3 times throughout to take back-to-back victories by a 4 second margin.

Tour of Epynt

A day of two halves saw a thrilling climax to the Asphalt season opener, on the Epynt military ranges. No.1 seeds Damian Cole & Jack Morton (Focus WRC) were joint fastest through the opening rain soaked stage with Simon Mauger & Jonathan Hawkins (Metro Millington) before Mauger took 3 seconds out of Cole on the 2nd stage to take the lead after loop 1. The next loop saw Cole claim back the lead by just 2 seconds before extending his lead to 9 seconds on the 5th stage. For the afternoon the sun was out and the crews could switch to slicks and Cole and Mauger set the same time on the penultimate stage, then on the final stage Mauger was hit or bust as he attacked the stage and took 10 seconds out of Cole to win by a single second.

Malcolm Wilson Rally

High winds hit the Lake District for a murky and early start on the Whinlatter Pass and through the opening stages all looked to be going well for local ace Paul Bird, co-driven by Aled Davies, in his Focus WRC. He was fastest on the first 4 stages to take a lead of 15 seconds into Grizedale but Euan Thorburn & Richard Cooke (Focus WRC) took all of that back through Grizedale North before taking a huge 29 seconds out of Bird in Grizedale South. Thorburn then extened his lead on the final two stages to take victory by 46 seconds from Bird. David Weston & Kirsty Riddick (Impreza WRC) completed the top 3 by just 4 seconds after a final stage push, running well down the order, from Stephen Petch & Ian Windress (Fiesta R5+).

Mid Wales Stages

There was scintillating action on the Mid Wales Stages whilst the weather did it’s best to throw every possible thing at the crews. Through the hail, rain, sleet, snow and winds we managed to just about keep going and we witnessed a superb victory for Nick Elliott & Dave Price (Escort MkII) by just over 28 seconds. They took the lead on stage 2 after Ben Llewellin & Ross Whittock (Escort MkII) had taken the first stage. Joe Price & Chris Brooks (Escort MkII) were fastest on stage two by just 0.3s from Elliott to move up to 2nd place before the next stage saw Meirion & Steffan Evans (Escort MkII) move up to 2nd place behind Elliott, after a superb stage. A puncture then cost Evans on the final stage as he dropped to fifth overall allowing Matthew Robinson & Sam Collis (Escort MkII) up in to 2nd overall. Price was third despite taking 2.5s out of Robinson on the final stage to finish just 0.4s behind.